Images are harder to spin than abstractions. They vivify abstract words like torture, abuse, murder and rape. They return us to human bodies not abstractions of the evil enemy. They speak a language we all know-pain, terror, pleasure, shame.

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American Special Forces veteran Stan Goff observed in an open letter to US troops in Iraq, "Abuses and violations of the Geneva Conventions and Laws of Warfare are already on record, such as: (1) Shooting people who are clearly not armed and who are engaged in no threatening behavior. (2) Shooting into ambulances. (3) Shooting wounded people who are not armed. (4) Shooting wounded people who are obviously no longer capable of fighting. (5) Shooting into crowds."

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At the end of the day, I don?t feel threatened by anyone other than this government.

His friends believe without a doubt that the police have got the wrong person. When they first saw his picture in the newspapers, they thought he had won a science award.

There has not been enough tough questioning of Howard, even by the media. We all talk about the ?war on terror? when we should be talking about the ?war of terror? because that?s what it is. It is time we started challenging the language and the premises on which this war is based.